Day 46- Rain, Rain, Go Away!

Day 46 - Rain, Rain, Go Away!

This blog will be uneventful as there is nothing to write about today!  We woke up to gray skies and drizzle, which by the time we got on the road had turned into heavy rain, and by the time we hit the interstate, it was a full blown thunder storm!  It rained and thundered forever, and we finally decided to get off the road and find an RV park for the rest of the day.  We did make it to our destination for the day - West Bend, Wisconsin, but we did not do any lighthouse hunting!  We pretty much took it easy.  We did run to Wal Mart to get some supplies (we were getting low on groceries) and then headed back to the RV site.  It has rained here on and off all afternoon.  If the rain lets up in the morning, we will continue our lighthouse quest. 

I have not heard from anyone regarding yesterday's Quilt Square blog, and I was hoping someone would have a list of pattern names for me.  Even if you just know one or two of them, let me know! 

Also, as a wrap-up to our visit to Door County, Wisconsin, I have a few websites that you can go to to learn all about this unique area. There is so much to offer to visitors to this area, that I could not possibly post it all on the blog!   I fell in love with Baileys Harbor, Sister Bay, Fish Creek and Ephraim.


Here are the links for your reading enjoyment:

www.doorcounty.com

www.baileysharbor.com

www.eggharbordoorcounty.com

www.ephraim-doorcounty.com

www.cometosisterbay.com

www.sturgeonbay.net

www.visitfishcreek.com


Miscellaneous Items:

1.  We have "adopted" a new "Speedy" and he should be arriving in Port Lavaca sometime this week!  My sister will take care of him until we get home, and then we will take him on our next leg of our journey which will begin in August.

2.  We have now traveled approximately 5,100 miles on our journey! (This does not include the miles we drove while in Hawaii!)

We will pray for a clear day tomorrow!

Day 45 (B) - Seek and Ye Shall Find!

Today started out rainy and gray, but as the day progressed, the weather improved and the great lighthouse hunt got better as well!

Again, in our travels to find the lighthouses, we passed through many wonderful lakeside villages and places of interest.  I am actually enjoying traveling Wisconsin!  Some of the areas we passed through today reminded Jim and I of some of the seaside villages in New Jersey and Cape Cod, Mass., areas.  And then there were some areas in Sturgeon Bay that reminded me of the Hamptons on Long Island.  Beautiful, HUGE, homes with boat houses and guest houses to boot!  Landscaping to die for!  Just mouth-dropping AWESOME! (Guess you had to be there....)

Our first lighthouse stop today was the Sturgeon Bay Canal Lighthouse.  This lighthouse is located on US Coast Guard property, but we were able to get pictures from the parking lot.

The second lighthouse was located in the same place but about 200 yards off shore at the end of a metal walkway. This was the Sturgeon Bay Canal North Pierhead Light.

(Remember, you can click on our link "Lighthouse Friends" and get more information on all the lighthouses we have visited.  Each one has a story to tell, and most of them are very interesting!)

We then traveled to the quaint town of Algoma, to see the Algoma Pier Head Light  You will note that I am calling some of the lights simply "Lights" and some "Lighthouses".  This is because a "Light" is free-standing and unmanned, whereas a "Lighthouse" is usually attached to, or close to another structure - normally a lighthouse keepers residence. 

Our fourth light was the Kewaunee Pierhead Light, (which actually looks like a lighthouse), located in the town of Kewaunee.  They had a Lighthouse Store here, and we strolled through it and brought a few postcards, but as usual, being a specialty shop, it was very expensive.  They did have some very nice lighthouse items that we have not seen before.

We moved on to our fifth light(house) of the day, the Two Rivers North Pierhead Lighthouse (in the town of Two Rivers) which had been moved from it's original location on the breakwater to a park in town.

Our next lighthouse was the Rawley Point Lighthouse, located on a US Coast Guard Station adjacent to Point Beach State Park.  Believe it or not, they charged us $5 to go 100 yards to take a picture of the lighthouse! (It was worth it!)

The seventh lighthouse of the day was the Manitowoc Breakwater Lighthouse, located in the town of Manitowoc.  This was an interesting stop, as the lighthouse was located near a marina which housed some of the biggest and most beautiful luxury boats/yachts we have seen thus far!  I picked out a couple I liked, but Jim said we were not taking home a boat bigger than our house! Drats!

Our final lighthouse of the day was the Sherwood Point Lighthouse, which was located west of the town of Sturgeon Bay at Sherwood Point.  It is also located on a Coast Guard Station, so we took pictures from the edge of the property until a gentleman came and told us to come on up on the property and take all the pictures you want, and feel free to roam to your hearts content!  As it turns out, the lighthouse can be rented by active, retired, or disabled military personnel, and the two gentlemen that talked with us about the lighthouse were brothers -  one of which is a Coast Guard Rescue Diver stationed nearby, and the other was his brother and family visiting from Chicago, and they were staying in the lighthouse for the weekend.  Is that too cool or what!  Had we known about the ability to rent the lighthouse for a night, we probably would have set that up prior to our arrival.  Again, we have met some wonderful people in our travels and it just makes the effort to find the lighthouses so much more enjoyable!

Our quest to see a ninth lighthouse proved fruitless, because it was to far off shore to be visible.

So here are some pictures of our most productive day...........eight lighthouses, over a dozen quaint little towns, ten interesting barns, one huge deer that crossed our path, and one ugly wild turkey which we almost had for dinner!

 Sturgeon Bay Canal Lighthouse

Sturgeon Bay Canal North Pierhead Lighthouse

Algoma Pierhead Light

Kewaunee Pierhead Lighthouse

Two Rivers North Pierhead Lighthouse

Rawley Point Lighthouse

Rawley Point Keepers House

Manitowoc Lighthouse

Sherwood Point Lighthouse

Boats, Boats, and more Boats....

They were getting ready to put this one in the water!

It is at least 52 feet long and the wood is mahogany! 

Just beautiful!

Day 45 (A) Quilt Squares

As we have travel the countryside in Wisconsin, specifically Door County, we noted that some of the barns have large quilt squares mounted on the structure - either at the entrance to the barn or on the side of the barn.  They are stunning and very colorful!  I did some research, and found out that this practice is simply volunteer, and that the quilt squares are usually put on barns of historical significance or they are the preferred quilt square used by the quilter in the household.  Currently in the region, 45 barns have these quilt squares displayed.  We have seen ten of them.  I have posted them below for your viewing pleasure. 

Each square is 8 FT X 8 FT in size.  The Door County Art Council holds an annual tour of the Quilt Squares that I understand is always well attended and draws a lot of interest.  It is hoped that the squares will catch on and that the tour will grow!

I am not a quilter, nor am I versed in quilt patterns, so I would like some help from my followers that are quilters.  Having been in Jean Wehmeyers quilt shop in Port Lavaca, (Beefore It's a Quilt and More), I know about the star, pinwheel and compass patterns, but not well enough to be able to identify the patterns in these pictures.  (I don't want to be wrong!)  Let me know in the order they are presented, what the patterns is for each square, and I will edit the blog accordingly! Jean? Corliss? Anyone else?  Thanks for your help!

I hope all of you that do quilt, enjoy these pictures/patterns!

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